


Ship Log of Usopp Great Warrior of the Sea entry XXX; I Miss You.

by witchspellbook



Category: One Piece
Genre: Love Letters, Platonic Relationships, Post-Time Skip, Tumblr Prompt, Usopp Needs a Hug, is sappy and cute and usopp missed them all, like right after, platonic love letters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28161351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchspellbook/pseuds/witchspellbook
Summary: There is a stack of letters sitting on the Sunny’s dining table one morning. There are eight envelopes, each addressed to each of them and Usopp is nowhere to be seen.
Relationships: Mugiwara Kaizoku ︳Strawhat Pirates & Usopp
Comments: 9
Kudos: 43
Collections: Mugiwara_no_Pirates





	Ship Log of Usopp Great Warrior of the Sea entry XXX; I Miss You.

**Author's Note:**

> the prompt given by @AMidsummerStorm was something along the lines of "something you said to me me when we were miles apart" and was asked to do either zosan or the crew i choose the crew cuz i have... a... long...zosan.........wip

There is a stack of letters sitting on the Sunny’s dining table one morning. There are eight envelopes, each addressed to each of them and Usopp is nowhere to be seen. They are, quite literally, in the middle of the ocean as the ship sinks through the sea, sailing underwater currents on its way towards fishman island and the light that filters through the water stains everything blue.

Sanji is the first one that sees them, they weren't there last night when he gave the dinner and kitchen area the last see through and after he finishes cooking breakfast, he sits with them at the head of the table. Some of them are heftier than others, the one that is addressed to Luffy seems to be the thickest, but they all are, from what Sanji can guess, several pages long. They don't have a sender, but the doodle of each of their faces beneath the name is enough to point out to Usopp.

Sanji shouldn't be leafing through them, but he is too curious for his own good and maybe if he opens one that is not for him just to take a peek… maybe if he opens the one for the marimo he can make a fight to try to deflect from the guilt. His fingers are itching to open it when Robin and Brook walk into the kitchen and then food becomes a priority. But Robin is just as curious as him and spots the envelopes fast. She takes her own and passes Brook his with a knowing look at Sanji who just deflects his almost misbehaviour with his usual flirting and dancing, both with the kitchen and Robin. 

Their curiosity is sated soon, however, when Brook rips the top of his envelope and pulls the contents of it. The first thing is a poster of his first concert, but over it it has doodled each member of the crew as backup band members, with Luffy playing the cymbals, Zoro playing drums, Nami a type of flat piano, Sanji the trombone, Usopp a bass, Chopper a pair of maracas, Robin a harp and Franky an electric guitar. It’s a lot to cram into the poster but Usopp somehow makes it fit, makes it so it feels right.

“It makes the picture complete, doesn’t it?” Brook mentions and it does, but the skeleton's voice sounds a bit sad, a bit like he is remembering the time he was alone and missed them. Then Robin points that there is something written on the back of the poster and as Brook quietly read Sanji scrambles for his own and plays with the sealed edge of the envelope. He can hazard a guess of what they are now and as Brook cleans a tear from his eyeless sockets, so he takes his own and hides it on his pantry. He’ll read it later, when he doesn’t have work to do and people to feed.

Robin pulls her own away as well, always the private thing. She has never received a letter before, not something like this at least and she rather take her time on a lone place, she is not sure how she herself would react to it.

But Brooks keep on reading, sipping his tea and leafing through the contents of the envelopes. There are all the posters of his concerts, and in the back of each a little message of encouragement, of how cool he looks and how much Usopp had wished to be there. There are pages where his lyrics are written and Usopp had pointed out the parts he likes the best, _this is brilliant_ and _I’ve had this song stuck in my head for a month, you jackass_ and _are you talking about Nami’s underwear here you weirdo?_ and notes on the rimes and images his songs bring forth and letters about. It’s detailed and dated and Brook feels moved by the number of times Usopp has thought about him, even if he had joined rather near to the moment when they were forced apart. It’s a nice feeling, feeling missed after such a long time of being alone.

When Franky arrives, Robin hands him his envelop. He opens it casually over his fried eggs like the mail he used to get from Franky family every so often, unaware of the soft silence that has taken over the kitchen. His letters start a bit unsure, like if the sender doesn’t know how to talk to him and Franky quickly realises the letters are from Usopp. It’s ramble-y and noncoherent at first and Franky smiles softly at it and as he passes the pages drawings and blueprints start to appear; new non-lethal hand-held weapons, and lethal ones too. Ways to improve the ship’s cannons reach and speed and bits and pieces of machinery and gadgets all new and fun. All asking about his opinions, just like they used to do while tinkering in the belly of the Thousand Sunny. Franky had been too busy rebuilding himself during those two years apart to really have fun creating and this wave of new creativity has his fingers itching with static. And the fact that Usopp had decided to share his new projects with him, even when they were apart, even when there was no way for them to talk to each other, that’s just super, fuck, he had missed the boy, he thinks finishing his food in the right moment because the peace of breakfast breaks when Luffy, Nami and Chopper arrive dragging behind them a very sleepy Zoro who grumbles his way through his morning rice with egg and his low alcohol content ale and, just as Nami, takes his own envelope when its handed to him and goes away for an early morning nap.

Chopper and Luffy on the other hand take their letters and open them right there in the middle of the table, forcing teapots and coffee cups apart and shoving fruit and eggs down their throats while they turn the table into a battlefield of colour and shape. Because theirs are not letters, theirs are comics depicting Usopp adventures, black lines with colour accents, pure reds and yellows that depict the terrifying beasts he fought the first month he was stuck away, the giant beetle he rode alongside his Hercules beetle friend, the dangers of the jungle and the mountains he climbed and Luffy finds himself absorbed by all, full of awe and a little envy and as Chopper calms down from the race that is eating with Luffy he realises that the last pages of his comic are not comics after all. Captured on the white paper there are drawings of plants each with a short depiction of them, medicinal plants and the part of them that is most useful and the way to use them in the most productive way, their contraindications and small doodles of Usopp face showing if they taste good or not. There is a bag of seeds under the table that Robin rescues for him, inside it there are several smaller bags, each named with each of the plants depicted on his drawings and as Chopper chatters happily with Robin about his new acquisitions Nami choses to take her leave with her own envelope.

She goes down to the aquarium room as everybody is still busy in the galley and opens her envelope. It’s lies. It's full of lies and half-truths and complicated schemes and personas Usopp has told and become during those two years apart, of the things he has told to survive and the ways he had based every lie in a small truth, a small quirk of personality of his friends, his nakama. It’s confessional and guilty and so, so fun to read and it has Nami laughing out loud to some of the blatant lies Usopp confesses to her of saying. It’s a survival guide and an adventure book filled with chapters of different adventures and different heroes all wearing Usopp face. And as Nami remembers having to lie and become someone she is not in order to survive Usopp mentions it to her, of the things she had to do and the lies she had to tell and of how happy he is she doesn't have to do it anymore because she looks so much happier now, much more open and calm _not that you are really calm, you are always angry and shouting, but when I remember you on the ship, before Cocoyashi and after, you don’t seem on edge anymore, like that weight lifted of your shoulders and I guess Luffy did lifted it, but you seem happy… ~~I’ll shut up now I’m just talking bullshit I’m sorry~~ and I’m just glad that you are happy now._

After finish reading, Nami takes her letters and pulls them away. There is a small drawer on her map desk that has a lock and key and she likes to keep the things of value on there, there are Nojiko letters and the one picture she has of Bellmere. It's a place where she keeps things safe and this is a letter that deserves to be safe...

On his moment alone, right after everybody but Usopp has had their breakfast and lunch must not be started yet, Sanji opens his letter, one of the first things it says is that Usopp misses his food, and as Sanji keeps reading it’s a common thing through the time they spend apart. But as Usopp is wont to do, his letters tell Sanji about his adventures, of the things Sanji wants to hear, the new foods he tried and the recipes for them, wild combinations of flavours and techniques that only inland people could come up with that Sanji finds himself dying to try. In the bottom of his envelope there are small paper bags carefully sealed, identified and doodled with cute little drawings of each thing, new species Sanji has never heard of before and seed of variations of vegetables he could plant only if Nami grants him permission and Sanji finds himself with a jaw splitting smile plastered to his face even if he feels teary eyes, oh well, he has always been a bit of a cry-baby.

Robin leaves the galley after reading Luffy’s comic. It had been entertaining and enlightening and she was right on not opening her envelope in the kitchen. Luffy’s letter was meant to be seeing, hers she guesses, not so much. Her room is empty when she checks so there she heads towards. Hers, Robin reads with soft amusement, are spy tales, stories about the hidden things he found and about the history of the place he ended in, a wild jungle with a hidden away society of people that choose to look like insects. It’s meticulous and well explained and in good Usopp fashion he had added personal comments about facts he lists and heroes he names. The letter tells her about all the things she may have found interesting and fascinating, customs and traditions and legends of things happened centuries ago that match with things she has told him were recorded facts back in Ohara and Robin realises and thinks, all the lengthy letters all the comics and pages and pages written that Usopp must have written to them every day and that maybe long nose-kun needs a hug, sadly she knows she is a creepy one so she should not be the first one giving it.

Zoro chooses to take his letter to the crow’s nest, he feels calm there and he had missed his weights and his equipment and he may be happy to see all the crew happy and safe again but the uproar on the galley it’s too much for his morning. Zoro soon discovers his letters have two distinctive tones. Zoro thumbs through the first one fairly fast, it has Zoro feeling conflicted, because it’s mostly an exercise diary, they tell Zoro about the exercise he does to strengthen himself and the exercises- they are just… Zoro knows Usopp can do better, he needs to see his form and the way he is doing each movement, because he is sure the snipper is not training properly and it will backlash him, but at the same time he can't help being a little proud of his friend for taking on himself the challenge of becoming strong and he is honoured to be the one he goes to for advice in the matter. Zoro thinks he will probably haul his ass to the crow’s nest one of these days to supervise and correct him on his training. The other letters however Zoro reads them carefully. Somehow, in the middle of a narration of a made-up adventure Usopp’s words had become serious and he had just blurted out too vulnerable things. His fears and insecurities and doubt he had written to Zoro and Zoro is not sure why, Luffy had gotten a comic, but Zoro had been the one Usopp had thought about when he felt frightened and small, and before he can wonder and worry about why the one of the final letters tells him. Thinking of him had helped him feel stronger, when he was afraid, he wondered what Zoro would do, the answer was always train, Usopp in the letter jokes, but thinking about Zoro and the way he would protect him and how cool he looks while fighting had helped Usopp push through with his training all in pursuit of seeing the crew again and help Zoro keep it safe. Zoro folds his letters and slides them inside his haramaki, and goes down to deck, he has a sniper to hunt and train.

Usopp has always kept a ship log Luffy mentions back in the galley. It's a soft spine leather book on where he writes the straw hats adventures in good, bad and difficult days, the last one is hidden somewhere in the library under an outlandish title. But during the years apart there was no ship log, no book to fill but Usopp had still felt the need to write, his thoughts and feelings and fears and adventures. Only this time, as the day passed and the loneliness consumed him again, he held onto the memory of his friends to fill the void. And so, he wrote. To each of them, as talking to them as if they had been there with him. And there is one thing all the letters have in common, something the crew won’t know in a long while; Usopp finished each of them with the small regards of _I miss you so much, please miss me too - great warrior of the sea Usopp_

____________

Zoro finds Usopp on the belly of the ship, during lunch, he is not allowed to come back if he comes back alone, but Usopp is properly hidden. Zoro finds him after wandering around aimlessly only by the sound of metal against metal that comes from the hold in the lowest parts of the ship. Sitting on a rice sac Usopp is tinkering with scraps of metal in a way Zoro will never understand until the last second when in the hands of either Franky of Usopp the metal becomes something else. Usopp doesn’t hear him come and Zoro slaps both his hands on the sniper’s shoulder and makes him jump

“Oii” Zoro says with his mocking grin that tells that he is in a good mood “everybody’s waiting for you up there. The cook won't serve me lunch if I don’t bring you there”

“No, you see-” he starts babbling when Zoro throws his arm over his shoulder in a way that doesn’t leave space for not walking along “I’m not hungry y’know- I have this stuff to finish and I…- don’t bully me Zoro!” he begs almost crying and Zoro rolls his one good eye.

“Everybody missed you too, dumbass” Zoro says pushing him through the ship “everybody wants to see you too. We all want you to tell us what you did on the island you ended up. But we want to hear it from you. And the cook won’t let me and Franky eat if we don't take you to the galley”

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos make me happy and as always thank you for reading~~


End file.
